


Lights Will Guide You Home

by imthehotgirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Post-Canon, The Golden Trio, changing points of view, movie 'verse - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 10:37:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18689797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imthehotgirl/pseuds/imthehotgirl
Summary: Deathly Hallows and beyond. Harry coming to the realization of how much Ron and Hermione truly mean to him.





	Lights Will Guide You Home

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted elsewhere. Written a few years back, hope y'all like it. If so, don't hesitate to leave kudos or comments. Thanks!

Hermione glanced back at Harry, as if she were afraid to take her eyes off him, but then, as Harry knew she would, she rushed to Ron’s side. Harry watched silently as Hermione pulled Ron into a tight hug before she removed the glasses on his face, leaning into him.

Harry felt dizzy, Tonks’ and Hermione’s words becoming white noise, something that wasn’t fully registering because all he could see were Ron and Hermione standing together. They were safe. Alive. Relief flooded him as he barreled toward them. He’d come so dangerously close to losing the two people he loved most in the world that night. He chuckled softly as he felt Ron’s arm come around his back, holding him close.

He felt Hermione bury her face further into Ron’s shoulder, his own body trembling as she drew closer to them both. Moving his head, Harry caught her eye and her expression said everything with one glance that he’d been feeling from the minute he’d arrived at the Burrow with Hagrid to find that neither of them had returned before he had.  
'Thank Merlin, you’re both all right. I could never forgive myself if something happened to you.'

And then the moment between them past as they were ushered into the Weasley home, Hermione lightly squeezing Harry’s fingers, Ron’s hand resting firmly on his shoulder as they went inside, attempting to put the horrors of that night behind them. At least for one evening.

**

Hermione had been lying to Ron when she told him that she hadn’t noticed Harry talked in his sleep. Of course she’d noticed! The three of them had been living together in the cramped quarters of that tent for more months than she would’ve liked to remember. It would’ve been nearly impossible not to hear Harry moaning, thrashing about and speaking in Parseltongue. 

What she was having a hard time forgetting were the nights shortly after Ron had left them when Harry was in the throes of a fitful sleep. He cried out both her and Ron’s names so frequently that Hermione couldn’t help but worry about him.

But trying to convey all of this to Ron in the thick of battle was just incredibly rotten timing. It wasn’t until months later when the three of them once again found themselves alone in Grimmauld Place after Harry had defeated Voldemort that Ron saw first-hand what Hermione had been trying to tell him.

Harry, exhausted after a day of recounting the events of what’d happened between him and Voldemort to both the Order and the press, found his head growing heavier and heavier.

He was soon in a deep sleep on the couch in the living room, not having bothered to eat anything beforehand. Hermione walked over to where he slept and carefully slipped Harry’s glasses off his face, placing them on the nearby end table. She ran a hand gently over his head, none too surprised when he moved into her touch.

A faint smile on her lips, she made her way over to where Ron sat in one of the armchairs, curling into his side as she proceeded to take ahold of one of his larger hands in her own and absentmindedly marveled at the freckles dotting his skin, how much wider his palm was, and how gentle his grasp was when she was certain he could crush her fingers if he applied enough force. But that wasn’t the kind of man Ronald Weasley was. He was however very gentle, caring and sweet with the people he loved. 

And then suddenly the quiet, relaxed feeling of the evening that had so easily swept over them disappeared as Harry began moaning and thrashing about in his sleep.

Hermione caught Ron’s wide-eyed look as Harry whimpered and cried out, Ron’s name falling from his lips and hanging in the air before it was quickly followed by Hermione’s and a desperate, keening sob.

“Hermione?!” Ron choked out, his own confused desperation over the situation making an appearance as he watched his girlfriend climb from his lap and make her way over to their best friend.

“He needs us, Ron. Please,” Hermione pleaded, tears clogging her throat as she knelt in front of Harry. Taking ahold of her friend’s hands in her own she watched Ron sit down next to Harry, cradling his friend’s head in his lap.

“Come on, mate. Wake up. It’s just a nightmare. Harry?” Ron murmured, the worry he was feeling inflected in his gaze as he locked eyes with Hermione.

Without warning Harry shot upward, his eyes flying open and his chest heaving as sweat rolled down his back. He turned toward Ron, shuddering almost violently before he flung his arms around his best friend.

“Ron, I thought… Merlin, I thought, I thought you were…” Harry gasped softly, his words slightly muffled as he buried his face in Ron’s shoulder.

Tears welled in Hermione’s eyes as she watched Harry tremble in Ron’s arms. She slowly stood up and sat down on the other side of the couch, pulling her legs up underneath her as she ran a hand along Harry’s back.

“Ron’s fine, Harry. And so am I. We’re here and we’re not going to leave you. Not after everything we’ve been through together,” she insisted vehemently, her tears now streaming freely down her face.

She leaned forward as Harry turned slightly, his arm resting awkwardly on her shoulder for a moment before Ron moved farther down on the couch, both Hermione and Harry leaning into him, their heads resting on his chest as the three of them stretched out fully.

“Bloody hell, Harry. Why do you insist on doing everything by yourself, mate? Hermione’s right, we’re not about to leave you,” Ron growled. 

Hermione saw his grip on Harry’s shoulder tighten in a comforting manner before both of the young men fell asleep. Covering Harry’s hand with her own, Hermione drew in an unsteady breath before finally closing her eyes, Ron’s breathing lulling her to sleep.

**

Ron realized they couldn’t live in Grimmauld Place shortly after Hermione did. It had too many bad memories associated with it. Everywhere Ron looked he saw Fred Apparating or firing off a round of Filibuster’s Fireworks. 

While Harry of course was haunted by the memory of Sirius. Ron knew that the older wizard had the best of intentions when he’d willed his family home to his godson, but Sirius must’ve been mental thinking Harry would grow to love a place that he himself had hated for years.

When Ron finally found the courage to broach the subject with Harry, Harry had simply sighed softly, a faint smile lighting up his features.

“It’s perfectly understandable that you and Hermione want to move out. I honestly didn’t expect either of you to stay as long as you have. You want to start your own life together. I’m relieved and happy that you have each other,” Harry said, the circles underneath his eyes that had been a constant presence in his features ever since they’d first started hunting Horcruxes were even more pronounced. The nightmares he’d been having every time he closed his eyes certainly hadn’t helped in the matter of him rejuvenating his mental or emotional strength by any means either.

Hermione had given Ron fair warning that this conversation wouldn’t go well, but he’d had no idea that his friend had ultimately decided that it would be his fate to live the rest of his life alone.

“Right. But we want you to be a part of it. Our new life. Moving forward together. All three of us. It’s only ever worked, this thing between us when we’re together. You know it as well as I do, Harry,” Ron demanded.

“What’re you on about, Ron?” Harry asked tiredly.

“No matter how miserable this place is making you, Hermione and I aren’t going anywhere without you, mate. We need you in our lives as badly as you need us,” Ron said, reaching across the kitchen table where the two of them sat to squeeze Harry’s hand.

“I can’t ask either of you to make that kind of sacrifice for me,” Harry insisted. “Not after everything you’ve…”

Ron drew back his hand from Harry’s and slammed it against the table. “Goddammit, Harry! What? What?! ‘Not after everything we’ve already been through?’ Is that what you were about to say? It was, wasn’t it? Don’t you get it, you prat? It’s not a sacrifice if we want to do it. We’ve been through hell and back for you not because we had to but because we love you. Because that’s what people do when they’re in love with someone. They do whatever it takes to keep that person in their lives. I know you don’t believe me, but Hermione and I love you. And we’re not us without you. Of course we love each other, but it only makes sense when we’re all three together. We’re not about to lose you now. And I’m sure that makes me beyond selfish, but I don’t bloody care,” he said, getting up out of his chair, rounding the table and pulling Harry roughly to his feet, his fists clenched in Harry’s shirt. “If you make Hermione cry over this again I will kill you,” he muttered, glaring in his friend’s direction before his mouth crashed against Harry’s.

Once Ron finally stepped back, his breathing labored, he grinned at Harry who was grinning back at him.

“Ron?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you too, mate.”

**

Before the three of them fully realized it a full year had gone by since Harry had defeated Voldemort. They’d managed to find a peace, stillness and feeling of home with one another. And that was all any of them had ever really wanted in the first place.

It didn’t hurt that they’d found a place they could call their own. A more physical home in the sense others would consider it for them. A place they could grow their family if they wished.

But in that moment the three of them had each other. Looked after one another. Cared for one another. And loved each other. And it was more than Harry had ever dared hoped for when he’d been eleven years old, first discovering that he was a wizard and going to a school called Hogwarts.

Sighing softly, Harry looked out across the expanse of their backyard as darkness fell, becoming lost in thought as he felt a gentle yet warm breeze make its presence known.

Turning his head back toward the house he flashed a small smile when he heard their familiar laughter float toward him through the open kitchen window.

A few moments later, Ron led Hermione outside, his larger hand carefully holding her smaller one in his grasp.

Harry smiled at them both as they came to stand by him. He glanced downward, watching Hermione slip her hand into his, brushing her lips lightly against his own before she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Does it hurt?” she murmured softly.

It took him a moment to realize she meant his scar.

“No,” he replied, a feeling of contentment washing over him as he realized it was true.

“I’m happy,” Hermione told him. “For you. For us,” she continued, her eyes lighting on Ron as she spoke, giving him a warm smile.

Harry nodded at her words, relishing in the truth of them. He sighed again, feeling Ron’s hand come up to rest on his shoulder, squeezing gently.

He wasn’t sure what the three of them were waiting for in the rapidly growing darkness. But he did know that whatever happened he wanted Ron and Hermione by his side experiencing it right along with him every step of the way.

Ron had been right when he’d told Harry that it’d only ever made sense when it was the three of them. And as a result Harry found he couldn’t wait to see what new journey lay ahead.

THE END


End file.
